ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa and parAsara! Today we will go to mudhalAzhwArgaL sannidhi in the temple.

vyAsa and parAsarA: Great pAtti. Let us go now.

ANdAL pAtti: Let me tell a little bit about them while we walk towards their sannidhi. mudhal means first. We already know the meaning of AzhwAr – one who is immersed in devotion. So, mudhalAzhwArgaL are the first amongst the 12 AzhwArs.

vyAsa: Why is there a plural in mudhalAzhwArgaL pAtti? Are there more than one “first” AzhwAr?

parAsara: Why pAtti? Are they like pancha pANdavas who were always together?

ANdAL pAtti: Very nice example parAsara. Yes – though the first 3 AzhwArs were born in 3 different places, through a divine event, they came together and met at thirukkOvalUr dhivya dhEsam and worshipped/enjoyed srIman nArAyaNan together. After that incident, they are generally quoted together.

vyAsa: What is that divine event pAtti? I am so curious to know about it.

ANdAL pAtti: Surely, I will tell you that incident. But before that, we understand a little about the 3 AzhwArs. First AzhwAr is named poigai AzhwAr – sarO yOgi. Second AzhwAr is bhUthaththAzhwAr – bhUtha yOgi. Third AzhwAr is known as pEyAzhwAr – mahathAhvaya.

parAsara: When and where were they born pAtti?

ANdAL pAtti: All 3 of them were born in the previous yuga – dhvApara yuga (the yuga when krishNAvathAram took place). All 3 of them appeared from flowers. poigai AzhwAr was born on aippasi thiruvONam in a pond in thiruvekkA in kAnchIpuram. bhUthaththAzhwAr was born on aippasi avittam in a pond in thirukkadalmallai – now you know this place as mahAbalipuram. pEyAzhwAr was born on aippasi sathayam in a well in thirumayilai – now you know this place as mylApUr.

vyAsa: Wow! They were born from flowers. So, dont they have mother and father?

ANdAL pAtti: Yes, they were blessed by bhagavAn during their birth itself and they fully considered thAyAr and perumAL as their mother and father.

parAsara: Oh, that is wonderful to know. So, how did they meet and what was that divine incident?

ANdAL pAtti: Well, they were individually travelling to different kshEthrams and were worshipping bhagavAn in many places. That was their life – just go to a temple, worship perumAL and stay there for a few days and then move on to the next one.

vyAsa: That sounds so wonderful – no need to worry about anything else. Wish we could do that too pAtti.

ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Look we have arrived at mudhalAzhwArgaL sannidhi. Let us go in and have their dharsan. We will continue with rest of their life on return.

4 thoughts on “Beginner’s guide – mudhalAzhwArgaL – part 1”

Contextual links to Sri Vaishnava Guru Paramparai helps remember details. Else when we read it is so wonderful. But when we try to share it with some one we couldn’t recollect everything and cogently tell them.